Lawyer suing Cutler may have a way with the ladies

The case of Robert Steinbuch vs. Jessica Cutler grows ever stranger — if not more entertaining — as Yeas & Nays has now learned that some of Steinbuch’s law students last year were peeved at his behavior toward some of the ladies in his class.

Jessica Cutler, you’ll recall, is the former staffer for outgoing Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who blogged about her romantic partners on her now-infamous “Washingtonienne” blog. She later published a thinly fictionalized novel under the same name.

Robert Steinbuch is the former DeWine staff attorney and Cutler mate who’s suing her for invasion of privacy and damage to his reputation after she published the details of their trysts on the blog.

A year and a half later, the two sides are still trading motions. In the latest, a memo filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 8, Cutler’s lawyers include a series of student evaluations from an evidence class Steinbuch taught at the University of Arkansas last fall. They indicate that his questionable judgment when it comes to the ladies may go beyond his peculiar relationship with Cutler.

“Flirting with female students in class is not appropriate,” comments one student.

“Stop flirting with the female students, and treat everyone fairly,” implores another.

In the “additional comments” section, one respondent (perhaps one of the same from above — all comments are anonymous) calls Steinbuch “the most unprofessional instructor I have ever had. ... He often singled out two particular female students. He spoke to these young women flirtatiously during class.”

Favoritism and unfair treatment is a common theme in the evaluations. It should be noted, however, that one student calls Steinbuch the “best professor” they’ve ever had and the class rated him strongly overall, including on the question of whether he “treats students in a respectful manner in class.”

Steinbuch’s attorney, Jonathan Rosen, did not respond to a request for comment.

How Gore got his groove back

Al Gore has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts over the past few years, having increased his hipness quotient thanks, in part, to his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and his TV network “Current.” Oh, and growing a beard and getting out of Washington probably didn’t hurt his cool ratio, either.

But, lest we forget, it wasn’t all that long ago that the former vice president was the poster child for everything that is inherently uncool. He was ridiculed for being famously stiff and awkward and for having a voice intonation that could put you to sleep (to wit: “lockbox”). He was the man who invented the Internet but couldn’t win the presidency, despite having more votes.

So how did Gore pull off such a turnaround? In the Nov. 20 issue of Brandweek, a magazine that focuses on the U.S. marketing industry, Gore explains his evolution.

“There’s an old saying that, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ ” says Gore. “I think maybe I’ve gotten a little stronger in the last six years. It’s an unfortunate truth of the human condition that all of us learn the most from the most painful experiences.”

Gore attributes much of his transformation to some guerilla marketing tactics he’s employed and his willingness to be a bit self-deprecating at times. “You saw the little viral cartoon that they made [promoting the movie?] There’s a cartoon of Bender the alcoholic robot and me. It went all over the Web ... I myself have appeared in ‘Futurama,’ in a couple of cameo performances. My best known role is as a disembodied head.”

“Disembodied heads?” You really haven’t been in politics for a while: Here in Washington, we just call them “pundits.”

Collins a font of micromanagement

These kinds of big-picture changes ought to return Republicans to the majority: An aide to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee who will be the ranking member when the Democrats take over in January, sent an e-mail to staffers on Friday laying out, in copious detail, the senator’s font preferences.

In the e-mail, forwarded to Yeas & Nays by a Senate spy, the aide writes: “If you write or work with speaking texts for the Senator, please note: Per Senator, preferred typeface for speaking texts is now LUCIDA BRIGHT.

“After reviewing a variety of typefaces to see whether they might prove more readable than the current protocol of 16-point Times Roman bold for speeches, statements and talking points, Senator Collins has decided that she would like to use Lucida Bright. Other current formatting practices — 16-point size, bold weight, double-spaced lines, etc. — are unaffected by this change.”

The aid even provides a little font background. Apparently, Lucida “is a 1985 typeface designed by the Bigelow & Holmes firm in Santa Monica, Calif., with legibility as top priority. Microsoft has packaged the typeface with Office, Access, Publisher, Windows XP and other products.”

Is it 2008 yet?

Joey DeGraw sings his blues at Blue Gin

That was Joey DeGraw, older brother of rock/pop recording artist Gavin, giving a private concert Friday night at Blue Gin to 75 of the lounge’s closest patrons and friends.

Spin Doctors frontman Chris Barron opened the performance with a solo acoustic set that included such crowd favorites as “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes.” DeGraw was in town for his Saturday night performance at IOTA Club and Café in Arlington.

Ladies in waiting

Washington’s beautiful set headed to the City Tavern Club Sunday night for The Madison Club’s 2006 Annual Meeting & Recruitment Event. Who will make the cut? That’s anyone’s guess, but the exclusive, all-female party-and-philanthropy club is well known for attracting the town’s young hotties. Candidates, shoot an e-mail to yan@dcexaminer.com to let us know how you stacked up against the competition.

NEA: Alba is the No. 1 substitute

By an overwhelming margin, actress Jessica Alba is the celebrity most respondents would like to see substitute teach for a day, according to a new poll by the National Education Association.

The star of “Dark Angel” and “Fantastic Four” was the top pick with 46 percent of the vote.

The runners-up were Oprah Winfrey (24 percent), Angelina Jolie (14 percent), Will Smith (12 percent) and Andre Agassi (4 percent). NEA received more than 5,000 responses to the poll, which was conducted in advance of Substitute Educators Day on Friday.

NEA notes that, in a survey by Utah State University, 96 percent of the nation’s school districts said they had trouble finding substitutes.

We doubt that Alba could help with that, but she certainly would improve truancy rates if she did actually sub for a day.

Speakeasy

“Absolutely, positively not. Absolutely not. My wife would throw me out of the house if I do anything in ‘08.”

– Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., on not running for the White House

“If George Washington could spend seven years away from his family to fight the Revolutionary War, then I guess members of Congress could spend a little more time in D.C.”

– Thomas E. Mann, of the Brookings Institution